Current-generator and spark-distributer.



D. E. ROSS.

CURRENT GENERATOR AND SPARK DISTRIBUTER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, $916.

Patnted Mar. 27,1917.

w w k Q T TW m 5 m J0 DAVID E. BOSS, OF LAFAYETTE, INDIANA-CURRENT-GENEBATOB AND SPARK-DISTRIBUTED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 27, 1917.-

Application filed January 25, 1916. Serial No. 74,238.

To all whomit may concern"v r Be it known that I, DAVID E. Ross, acitizbn of the United States, residing at La Fayette, in the countyofTippecanoe and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Current-Gem erators and Spark-Distributers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in combined current generators andspark distributers whereby ,to produce the necessary current for thecharge igniting sparks, at

1 the proper cyclic time, in the operation of I on line 22 of Fig. 1.

- on line 11 of Fig. 2.

internal combustion engines.

One of the salient objects of my invention is to provide improved meansfor generating and distributing single electric impulses, at propercyclic times in the operation of internal combustion engines, toeffectuate ignition of compressed fuel charges in the cylinders thereof,in harmony with the reciprocation of the respective pistons, andcooperating means for predeterminin the relative periods of time inwhich saidimpulses are to be produced, with respect to the excursions ofthe pistons of such engines, and in harmony with the velocity at whichsaid pistons are moving.

Another object of my invention is to simplify the construction andoperation of de vices of this character by eliminatin all commutators,spark coils, circuit brezfirers, condensers and other such contrivancesusually employed and necessary in systems of this general character; to.eheapen the cost of construction and to render the'operation morereliable and dependable.-

Other and further objects of my invention will be apparent, to personsskilled in the art, from a consideration of the following descriptionwhen taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an endelevation of the combined current generator and spark distributer,showing the shafts upon which the rotatable parts are mounted, insection taken F ig. 2 is a vertical central section, taken In alltheviews the same reference characters are employed to indicate similarparts. In the specific embodiment, which I have I chosen to exemplify myinvention, 5 is the.

engine shaft of a four cycle engine, and 6 is the valve shaft, or othercounter shaft, or it may be another shaft driven in harmony is a srocket wheel 9 which has twice the number of teeth as are contained insprocket wheel 10, to which it is connected by a sprocket chain 11.

The arrangement inany event shall be such that any desired number ofpoints on the respective rotary members shall pass simultaneouslythrough a plane in which the axes of the respective members are located,so'that the armatures will always out the magnetic fields of therespective inductors.

The sprocket wheel 10 is in this embodiment, a part of the sleeve 12,but it may be a separate wheel rotatively secured thereto, byv anysuitable means. The sleeve 12 is loosely mounted upon an axiallyreciprocable sleeve 13, which is s idable upon the shaft 5, and which isp11 Etively driven by said shaft by, means of a spline and feather 1%.'The sleeve 12' is spirally slotted, as at 16, and a screw tlrvaaded lug17 passes through the sleeve 12 into the slot 16 so that when the sleeve13 is longitudinally or axially moved, on the shaft 5, the stud 17,

cooperating with the slot .16, has the effectto rotate the sleeve 12, insome respect pro portional to the axial movement of the sleeve 13'. Thesleeve 13 is axially'moved by means of a forked lever 18., pr; era:projections. 19, that err-er groove 20 between the two annular radialprojections 21 on end of the sleeve13. The lever '18 may be moved by aspeed governor, manually or by any other suitable means. forreciprocating the sleeve 13, for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

The sleeve12"s radially enlarged, as at 22, to provide a hub, preferablyof magnet steel, suitably drilled and preferably hardened.

Secured to the hub 22, at selected intervals are permanent magnet bars23+ and 23-, as by means of rivets 24, or otherwise. Any suitable numberof pairs of such permanent magnet bars may be securedto the hub or disk22. In the particular embod' ment I have illustrated two pairs of suclbars located at diametrically opposite points. After the hardened steelmagnet. bars 23+ and. 23 have been suitably secured to the hub 22,'theyshould then be magnetized to produce the most powerful magnets, theinhaving roller I ticular exemplifica and tervening parts of the hub :22affording a path for the magnetic flux or the yoke of the magnet.

The collar 25 is secured "to tl'" outer end of the shaft 5 by the screw.p Mounted on the shaft 6 is a hub 27 preferably of soft iron, or steel,secured thereto, as by a set screw28. The hub is reduced in width toprovide an annular projection ordisk 29, upon each side of which aremagnet cores m -3].. These cores are made, preferably, of laminatedstrips of soft sheet iron'secured together, as by rivets 32, andsecured'to the annular hub portion 29, by other rivets 33. Any suitablenumber of pairs of mag net cores, 30-31, may be placed at suitableintervals aroundthe hub 2 In the par- Wion there are four such pairs andin conjunction with the permanent magnets 23-}- and 23--, which areconnected to the hub 22, the device is adapted for ope 'ation with afour cylinder engine.

. The hub 27 is laterally "extended into a sleeve 3-1, which carriesasleeve or cylinder of insulating material 35, upon which are mountedaseries of current collecting rings.

36, one for each cylinder of the engine. Bearing upon each of the rings36 1s a brush. 37, held by a brush holder 38, and

pressed into contact with the respective ring by a spring 39. The sparkplug of each of the cylinders of an engine with which the device 18 tobe used 13 connected to the brush holder by the wire -tt0. llhe seriesof rings.

36, tl'irougb. their brush holders 38, may be connected tothe respectivecylinders, in order of succession, in which they produce theirrespective power strokes. Surrounding the electro-magnet cores 30 and 31are coils 30' and 31, respectively; The free terminals of coils 30 arepreferably connected to the frame of the device, or engine, the otherterminals 11, being each connected tonne of the rings 36, thus each pairmagnet coils 1s connected to one of the rings 36 so as to transmit tothe respective spark plugs the impulse which they will, in turn,generate When passing its coiip erating permanent magnet or inductor.

The operation of the device is as follows:--Assuming that the engineshaft 5 turns clockwise, as shown by the arrow in r Fig. 1, the inductor27 will turn in the same direction,- but the proximate peripheries ofthe rotating elements will be driven in the opposite directions, asshown by the arrows of the respective elements. The permanent magnetsorinductors. will be rotated to- Ward-the right and the proximateelectromagnets or armatures, toward the left, thereby increasing therate of speed of the passing current inducing elements beyond what itwould be if one or the other were stationary, while the coiiperatingelement was being rotated. Just before the mductor or engine.

pulse occur at an earlier or a later time,

a given pair of permanent magnets comes coincident with the armature ora given pair of electro-magnets, a magnetic flux will pass through thecores of said electro-magnet causing an electrical impulse to begenerated in the coils 30 and 30 thereof, which will be transmitted overthe wire 41 through the respective rings 36 and over the wire to therespective spark plug of the engine, causing the spark to pass betweenthe contacts of the spark plug and thereby exploding the compressedcharge within the particular cylinder of the engine. This action followsin proper cyclic sequence.

The generated impulses will normally be produced, with reference toparticular positions of the engine speed shaft 5, and thereby withrespect to the positions of-the re spective pistons within the cylindersof the If it is desirable to have the imwithin the cyclic operation, thesleeve 13 is reciprocated by the lever 18, which operation will have theeffect of rotating the sleeve 12 and the inductor, comprising thepermanent magnets 23+, 23-, either forwardly or rearwardly, andcoincidentally, the inducing element, or armatures mounted upon the hub27, will be rotatively displaced in the opposite direction, so that theradial coincidence, or generating location of the two elements, willoccur sooner or later, in accordance with the axial movement of thesleeve 13 and the consequent rotation of the sleeve 12 thereby. Therotative displacement of the armature element and the inducing permanentmagnet element in opposite directions is accomplished by a very slightrotation of the sleeve 12, and therefore it is only necessary to movethe le. .r 18, in reciprocating the sleeve 13, a veer slight distance toeffect the entire latitude of movement necessary for retarding or advancing the spark within the cylinders of the engine... As thearmatures, or pairs of electro-magnets 30, 31 are equally spaced around'the periphery of the hub 29, any rotative displacement of the elementwill effect the spark time in all of the cylinders proportionately. v

For an engine having eight cylinders it is only necessary to double thenumber of electro-magnets 30, 31 and the number of pairs of permanentmagnets 23+, 23-, or to change therelative speed of the inductor andinducing elements in proper relation, all of which will be clearlyunderstood by persons versed in the art.

lVhile l have herein shown a single embodiment of my invention for thepurpose of clear disclosure it is manifest that many changes may be madein the general relation, disposition, configuration and size of theparts within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a device of thecharacter described, for use with an internal combustion engine, thecombination with a rotatable permanent magnet inductor; of a rotatablearmature; connecting means for rotating the said armature andinductorgsynchronously with each other and in harmony with pistonmovement of an engine, so that proximate coincident'current inducingparts move in an. opposite direction and means for rota,- tivelydisplacing said parts to change the time of coincidence thereof.

2. In a device of the character described, for use with an internalcombustion engine, the combination of a rotatable permanent magnetinductor; a rotatable armature; driving means. for rotating saidarmature and inductor synchronously with each other and in harmony withpiston movement of an engine, so that proximate coincident currentgenerating parts move in opposite directions, and means for rotatablydisplacing said parts with reference to said piston movement to changetime of coincidence thereof,- whereby to' vary the time of the currentimpulse.

3. In a device of the character described, for use with an internalcombustion engine, the combination of a plurality of rotatable permanentmagnet inductors; a series of separate and. independent rotatablearmatures: driving means for rotating said armatures and inductorssynchronously with each other and so that proximate coincident currentgenerating pairs of inductors and armatures move in opposite directions,and means for rotatably displacing said respective pairs to change timeof coincidence thereof with respect to the driving means, to vary thetime of the current impulses.

I. In a device of the character described, for use with an internalcombustion engine, the combination of a rotatable inductor element.comprising a hub having a pair of radially disposed. permanent magnetsattached thereto, one limb thereof on each side of the hub; a rotatablearmature ele- I rotatably and relatively displacing said inductorelement and said armature element to cause coincidence of operation tooccur at an earlier or later period, with reference to the drivingmeans.

5. In a device of the character described, for use with an internalcombustion engine, the combination with an engine shaft to be driven atengine speed; a counter-shaft; means for driving the latter in two toone relation with said engine shaft; an inductor element, having halfthe number of inductors as there are cylinders contained in an enginewith which the device is to be used, mounted on one shaft; an armatureelement, having as many armatures as there are cylinders in an enginewith which the device is to be used, mounted on the other shaft, eacharmature adapted to pass a gi en inductor once during each revolution ofthe armature element; collecting rings mounted on the shaft carrying thearmature clement, one for each armature; brushes bearing on said ringsfor connection with the respective spark plugs of an engine with whichthe de vice is to be used; and means for relatively, rotatably displacinsaid elements, to cause generation of current impulses at earlier orlater periods with reference to the cyclic operation of the pistons ofsaid engine.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

DAVID E. ROSS.

In the presence of- Gno. C. Kmri mc, J. Nnwamn KELLY.

